Billiards Sports23 Editorial 2 min read
Qatar World Cup 10-Ball: 8 Filipinos Reach Last 32
Magpantay and Biado lead an eight-strong Filipino charge in Doha — Salvilla takes the derby, Bonus survives a hill-hill decider, Regalario falls to the giant-killer.
Eight of the 13 Filipino cueists who reached the knockout stage of the Qatar World Cup 10-Ball are through to the last 32, after a day of races to 11 at the Ezdan Palace Hotel in Doha that delivered an all-Filipino derby, a pair of hill-hill finishes and the exit of a seed.
Magpantay, Biado lead the charge
Defending champion Jonas Magpantay needed little more than an hour to see off Taiwan's Hsu Jui An 11-4, the man who ended Thorsten Hohmann's tournament in the winners' qualification round. The "Silent Killer" now meets Alex Pagulayan, the Filipino-Canadian who beat home favorite Ali Alobaidli 11-8, in one of Wednesday's standout last-32 ties.
World No. 2 Carlo Biado was just as comfortable, beating Poland's Mateusz Sniegocki 11-6. His reward is the pick of the next round: a clash with No. 3 seed Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, who ended Marlon Caneda's week 11-3.
Derby day, and a hill-hill escape
Miguel Salvilla won the draw's only all-Filipino tie, edging Aivhan Maluto 11-9. One countryman was guaranteed through and one sent home, exactly as the bracket had promised.
Jerico Bonus supplied the drama, surviving a hill-hill decider against Poland's Sambor Stachowiak to win 11-10. Rocky Tullao claimed the day's best scalp with an 11-6 defeat of Eklent Kaci, the Albanian who lifted the world 10-ball crown in 2023. Jefrey Roda beat Saudi Arabia's Khalid Alghamdi 11-6, Jundel Mazon saw off Taiwan's Wu Kun Lin 11-8, and AJ Manas produced the widest Filipino win of the day, 11-3 over Qatar's Bashar Hussain.
Two hill-hill heartbreaks
The exits were narrow. Ruben Cuna went down 10-11 to Greece's Dimitrios Loukatos, and No. 17 seed Bernie Regalario, fresh from his giant-killing run at the Philippines Open, fell by the same score to Turkey's Mustafa Alnar, the man who removed No. 5 seed Joshua Filler in the opening round.
Jerson Cumayas pushed Szymon Kural, the Pole Magpantay beat in last year's final, before going down 9-11. Caneda ran into the in-form Sanchez Ruiz and never got going.
Every Filipino on knockout day one
| Player | Result | Last-32 opponent (Wed) |
|---|---|---|
| Jonas Magpantay | W 11-4 vs Hsu Jui An | Alex Pagulayan |
| Carlo Biado | W 11-6 vs Mateusz Sniegocki | Francisco Sanchez Ruiz |
| Rocky Tullao | W 11-6 vs Eklent Kaci | Mario He |
| Miguel Salvilla | W 11-9 vs Aivhan Maluto | Elliott Sanderson |
| Jerico Bonus | W 11-10 vs Sambor Stachowiak | Wiktor Zielinski |
| Jefrey Roda | W 11-6 vs Khalid Alghamdi | Daniel Maciol |
| Jundel Mazon | W 11-8 vs Wu Kun Lin | Juan Carlos Exposito |
| AJ Manas | W 11-3 vs Bashar Hussain | Mustafa Alnar |
| Aivhan Maluto | L 9-11 vs Salvilla | — |
| Jerson Cumayas | L 9-11 vs Szymon Kural | — |
| Marlon Caneda | L 3-11 vs F. Sanchez Ruiz | — |
| Ruben Cuna | L 10-11 vs Dimitrios Loukatos | — |
| Bernie Regalario | L 10-11 vs Mustafa Alnar | — |
Vietnam's Duong Quoc Hoang joined the eight in the last 32, beating Maks Benko 11-8 to set up a meeting with Hong Kong's Robbie Capito. Southeast Asia sends nine cueists into the round in all.
The last 32 plays out on Wednesday, with $4,000 guaranteed to everyone still standing and $100,000 waiting for Thursday's champion. Matches stream on the Qatar Billiard Sports Federation's YouTube channel; live scoring and the full bracket are at the Qatar World Cup 10-Ball page.
